Collector’s Cage - Chapter 64 - IX.

`IX.`

Marquis Froy had disappeared from the social scene. He, who had never missed a gathering to share information about expensive artworks and rare collectibles, hadn’t shown his face for two months now.

With Marquis Froy absent, his acquaintance, Count Jobern, was bombarded with annoying questions.

“Is the Marquis not coming again today?”

A young lady from a Count’s family pressed him with a deeply displeased face. It was unclear why she was questioning Jobern about the Marquis’s absence, but Jobern, ever the gentleman, responded without showing his displeasure.

“I haven’t seen him in quite a while myself.”
“Why is that?”
“He doesn’t come out of his mansion. Seems he’s quite absorbed in something…”

Jobern rubbed his chin, deflecting the question.

He had actually visited Froy’s mansion once, thinking he might still be wallowing in grief, digging himself a pit of loss. But Froy’s appearance was different from what he had expected.

He looked disgustingly happy. That face, wearing a subtle smile that radiated happiness, was incredibly irritating.

Even when Jobern asked for a reason, he didn’t get a proper answer. Froy just seemed intent on kicking him out, as if annoyed by his presence in the mansion. The hospitality was terrible for someone who had gone to console him.

Jobern wondered if he had found his lost fairy, so he asked what had happened to the fairy. Froy brushed him off, saying he didn’t know. Jobern suspected he had gotten the fairy back. Or perhaps he had acquired something new.

Otherwise, there was no way that guy, who had looked half-dead, would be grinning from ear to ear overnight. The fact that he rarely left his mansion was also suspicious.

He must be hiding something precious in his mansion, savoring it like a delicious candy he’s saving.

“The Marquis is absorbed in something? Surely it’s not a woman, is it?!”

At Jobern’s words, the young lady’s face crumpled. She had been memorizing and studying artworks she had no real interest in, all because of Marquis Froy. She was on edge, fearing her past efforts might go to waste.

“It’s hard to imagine Marquis Froy meeting a woman, though.”
“Right? It can’t be a woman, can it?”

The fact that he doesn’t meet women shouldn’t be entirely good news for her either, yet the young lady sighed as if relieved.

“Anyway, if you hear the Marquis is coming out, please let me know.”
“I shall do so.”

Jobern smiled as if to say of course he would.

Yet, he had a feeling Froy might not show his face in society for some time to come.

This was because there had been a major shift in Marquis Froy’s hobbies. He had dismissed all the merchants who used to frequent his mansion and completely cut off dealings with guilds.

Jewels, artworks, rare items—things Froy would normally be interested in were appearing on the market, but he paid them no mind.

His obsessive collecting had been a means to fill a deep-seated deficiency and void within him. It seemed something else, something important, had taken its place.

He didn’t know what it was, but he sincerely hoped it was a wholesome and normal pastime.

Tasting his wine, Jobern muttered with a worried tone.

“If that guy were a normal fellow, I wouldn’t even have such worries.”

People seemed fooled by his beautiful face, but Froy’s inner self was twisted and warped, often leading him to commit extreme acts.

Like utterly ruining a noble family that insulted him, banishing a young lady who tried to d**g him for a night’s pleasure from ever setting foot in society again, or driving the newspaper that wrote about his past into complete bankruptcy. There had been several other incidents as well.

He was a disturbing fellow who, once obsessed—whether with collecting, revenge, or anything else—would cling to it tenaciously until he saw it through to the end. It was a blessing he wasn’t an enemy.

Worried that Froy might be up to something strange again, his longtime friend Jobern shook his head with concern.

“Sigh. I don’t know what it is, but he probably won’t show his face in society until it’s completely resolved.”